2009 was another big year for Jimmy Buffett. His summer tour was hugely successful again, he partnered with the Miami Dolphins to rename their home field Landshark Stadium, and a new album dropped in December. And of course there was lots more in between. So here’s our Jimmy Buffett 2009 Year in Review:

January

• In early January Jimmy made a swing through the Caribbean, making stops at his Margaritaville Cafes in Grand Cayman and Cozumel where he, Mac, and Nadirah played surprise shows
• Buffett attends Wounded Warriors Project’s Soldier Ride in Key West
• Spring and summer tour dates began to trickle out in mid-to-late January

February

• On February 2nd Margaritaville.com confirmed all shows for the Summerzcool Tour
• Also on February 2nd, Jimmy Buffett’s at the Beachcomber Restaurant opened in Honolulu
• Parrothead license plates become available for South Carolina residents
• On February 12th, Jimmy played a surprise show at the Margaritaville in Key West



• About 2 weeks later, Mailboat Records releases 4 digital downloads from the Key West show
• On Tuesday the 24th, Buffett and the Coral Reefers open the 2009 Summerzcool Tour in Maui
• On the 26th he plays a private show for the opening of Jimmy Buffett’s at the Beachcomber

March

• Jimmy performs at Netscape founder Jim Clark’s wedding in the British Virgin Islands



• In late March, we report that Margaritaville Rum is coming soon
• Also at the end of the month, Coral Reefer Mac McAnally releases a new single: “You First”

April

• Buffett sends out an April Fool’s joke on his Twitter account saying that the summer tour has been canceled
• On April 10th, Jimmy called in to Radio Margaritaville to discuss the tour and a new album in the works



• First rumblings surface about Jimmy entering into a partnership with the Miami Dolphins
• Spring tour kicks off in Atlanta on April 16th
• Buffett also plays Dallas, Charlotte, Raleigh, and Tampa in April
• A planned Today Show appearance by Jimmy in Key West in May is scrapped so that the NBC staff could stay in NYC to cover the Swine Flu outbreak

May

• It was announced on May 1st that Jimmy had entered into a agreement with the Miami Dolphins to rename their home field “Landshark Stadium”
• “Summerzcool” is released as a digital download



• The Fall tour dates are removed from Margaritaville.com, causing mass speculation and frustrating parrotheads on the West Coast
• On May 8th the Dolphins held a press conference in Miami announcing the stadium’s name change to Landshark Stadium. Jimmy performed at the event
• Tour resumed on May 14th in Phoenix. Jimmy also plays Las Vegas, Concord CA, and Irvina CA in May
• Additional Fall tour dates are announced in London, Paris, Orlando, and Charlottsville, VA. The San Diego, Seattle, and Las Vegas shows planned for the Fall are officially canceled

June

• Trump Entertainment Resorts terminates the agreement with Coastal Development to buy the Trump Marina and Casino and turn it into a Margaritaville-themed casino
• It’s announced that the first Canadian Margaritaville will open in Edmonton
• “Margaritaville” referenced on The Colbert Report
• On June 13th Jimmy performed at the Bonnaroo Music Festival in Tennessee
• i-Encore, a parrothead iPhone app is released in mid-June
• Tour resumes on June 18th in Camden, NJ. Jimmy also plays in Pittsburgh and Boston
• In late June, former Coral Reefer Tim Krekel (pictured right) died after a short battle with cancer

July

• On July 1st, Jimmy Buffett and parrotheads are mentioned on an episode of Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart”
• Jimmy performs in London on July 5th
• On July 9th, Jimmy rode along in the Lance Armstrong’s Team Astana car at the Tour de France
• It was reported that Jimmy Buffett serenaded Walter Cronkite in the weeks before his death
• In late July Coastal Development sues Trump over the Atlantic City casino deal



• On the 29th, Jimmy makes a surprise appearance at the Stephen Talkhouse in Amagansett, New York
• Jimmy performs and is interviewed on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon on July 29th

August

• Tour resumes in Cincinnati on the 6th. Jimmy also plays Chicago, Indy, Detroit, Atlantic City, Wantagh NY, and East Troy WI in the month of August

September

• On the 2nd, Politico reports that Jimmy Buffett was at the White House



• Jimmy speaks and performs at a memorial for Walter Cronkite in NYC on the 9th
• In mid-September the Orlando show scheduled for November 14th was removed from Margaritaville.com’s tour dates page with no explanation given
• Jimmy lends his boat to three combat veterans
• Prior to the Dolphins Monday Night Football game on the 21st, Jimmy performs outside of the stadium
• A new line of iced tea by Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville is announced
• On September 30th it was announced that Jimmy had joined the effort to restore Miami’s Marine Stadium, the venue for the Live By The Bay show from 1985.

October

• On October 16th the Margaritaville on Grand Cayman was robbed
• Jimmy plays for the National Association of Convenience Stores in Las Vegas



• Jimmy performs at Neil Young’s Bridge School Benefit in Mountain View, CA on October 24th

November

• We reported on the 3rd that “Margaritaville” had been trademarked for video game use
• On the 7th, Jimmy played a show on St. Barth’s for the 60th anniversary of Le Select
• The CMA Awards were held on the 11th and Coral Reefer Mac McAnally won Musician Of The Year for the second straight year
• Jimmy plays final shows of the Summerzcool Tour in Charlottsville VA, Toronto, Uncasville CT, and New York City
• On the morning of the 23rd, Jimmy appeared on the Today Show to discuss his upcoming album “Buffet Hotel”

December

• Jimmy’s new album “Buffet Hotel” is released. It’s Jimmy’s first studio album since “Take The Weather With You” in 2006
• On the 9th, Jimmy and the Zac Brown Band tape an episode of CMT Crossroads in Nashville
• We reported on the 13th that Buffett had acquired two new airplanes
• On the 17th, we reported that an aviation departure procedure out of Palm Beach International Airport in Florida had been named after Jimmy
• We report on the 18th that a job listing for a General Manager at a Margaritaville location in Nashville had been posted
• On Christmas Day, Jimmy celebrated his 63rd birthday

An aviation departure procedure out of Palm Beach International Airport (PBI) in West Palm Beach, Florida has been named after Jimmy Buffett, and includes waypoints with his name and related words.

The BUFIT ONE Departure, as it’s called, is used for standardizing routes for aircraft taking off from Palm Beach and departing to the south. Obviously this is a route that Jimmy himself is likely to take often.

The procedure calls for flying to waypoints with the names JIMEY, BUFIT, FINNS, PYRUT, and UTLEY (referring to Michael Utley, Jimmy’s long-time keyboard player). Aviation waypoints are five letters long, hence the funny spellings.

Buffett has kept his airplanes at Palm Beach International for several years. Learn more about Jimmy’s flying and see his airplanes here.

In the past few months Jimmy Buffett has shuffled his airplane inventory, replacing his Caravan amphibious floatplane with a brand new version and also adding another seaplane.

According to records, Buffett now owns a 2009 Cessna 208 Caravan with registration number N915JB. His previous Caravan (N208JB) was a ‘98 model.

Buffett also now owns a 1939 Grumman Goose seaplane with registration number N48550 (pictured top right). N48550 flew in the Navy early in its career, then spent several years with Alaska Coastal Airlines and Antilles Air Boats before being bought by an individual in 1990. In terms of size, the Goose is larger than the Widgeon but smaller than the Albatross.

Below is a video from Margaritaville.com’s Buffet Hotel video collection of Buffett flying the Goose to the tune of the new song “Wings” :

In addition to the Caravan and Goose, Buffett owns a Falcon 900 jet, a Stearman biplane, and a Grumman Albatross dubbed The Hemisphere Dancer (now on display at the Orlando Margaritaville).

Learn more about Jimmy and aviation here.

The Belfast Telegraph has an article that includes excerpts from a book that details U2 singer Bono’s experience onboard the Hemisphere Dancer during the Jamaica Mistaica incident:

The U2 singer, his wife Ali and their children Jordan and Eve, then aged just six and three, were lucky to escape with their lives after 100 rounds of bullets were fired at them.

They had flown into the Caribbean country on an Albatross World War Two seaplane for a holiday in January 1996.

But as they were landing authorities mistook them for drug smugglers and fired a hail of bullets while the family was disembarking.

The plane was hit at least seven times.

Bono said at the time: “I don’t know how we came through it.

“These boys were shooting all over the place.

“I felt as if we were in the middle of a James Bond movie — only this was real.

“It was absolutely terrifying and I honestly thought we were all going to die.

“Thank God we were safe and sound. My only concern was for their safety.

“It was very scary, let me tell you.

“You can’t believe the relief I felt when I saw the kids were okay.”

The incident has been recalled in a new book, Stop The Press: An Inside Story Of The Tabloids In Ireland, written by journalist John Kierans.

Bono, Ali and their children dived for cover fearing they were about to be killed, but miraculously survived unhurt.

Bono was so shocked that he and his family left Jamaica and flew straight to Miami, Florida.

The February ‘09 issue of Air International magazine discusses a North Carolina company’s plans to resurrect the Grumman Goose seaplane (pictured right), and according to the article they say that Jimmy Buffett is interested:

“V.L. Manual [owner of the company] now has strong interest from buyers in 20 different countries worldwide, including the possibility of a new “retro” Goose for country music legend Jimmy Buffett, which may have original Pratt & Whitney (P&W) radials instead of the turboprops. A highly-specialized military version of the Goose is also being developed by Antilles for potential use by US Special Forces.”

Antilles Seaplanes LLC expects to have the first new-production plane completed in June of this year. The Super Goose will have modern engines, modern electronics, and a number of other upgrades over the original Goose. Airframes will be of new manufacturer, rather then rebuilt.

The Goose is a bit smaller than Jimmy’s Albatross but also a bit larger than the Widgeon that he crashed in 1994. Originally designed in the 1930’s the Goose ended production in 1945 with 345 examples being built originally. Roughly 60 are airworthy today. Antilles sees a potential market for 200 new-built Gooses (not “Geese!”).

(hat tip to Pirate John for passing this along)

See photos of Jimmy’s airplanes here.

The second part of Jimmy’s diary about his recent trip to the Outer Banks is now up at Margaritaville.com, including more photos.

In it, Jimmy discusses a wrecked surfboard, a morning sightseeing flight over the coast, and much more. Read it now. And stay tuned for the final part in the series.

Jimmy Buffett recently treked down the east coast for his annual pilgramige from New York to Florida and wrote about it in his online diary that you can read at Margaritaville.com. He flew his Cessna Caravan from New York’s East River down to First Flight Airport in Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina… site of the Wright Brothers National Memorial. Jimmy describes what it’s like to be a pilot and visit the spot where the Wright Brothers first flew:

I am a creature of habit, and to me, the birthplace of aviation, is a place worth visiting more than once. In fact, I would say it is more than a photo op, a gift shop visit or buzzing the Wright Brothers Monument in your plane. It is a spiritual place to me, as powerful as Diamond Head or Machu Pichu in that regard. It is a sandy piece of land, where one can stand at the exact spot where man left the planet for the first time, and reflect in these troubled times, on what it means to soar above the earth and go traveling amongst the stars. Those kinds of thoughts are the things that separate pilots from passengers.

Buffett also writes about a great local seafood place, the throwback cottage that he stayed in, and the stand-up surfboard that he tried out on the trip.

Read the entire Outer Banks diary here. There are also several photos from Buffett’s trip on Margaritaville.com.

Jimmy says at the end of the diary entry that there will be a part II, and possibly a new song or two from this trip, so stay tuned!